Mainstream People Research Articles

The Dissemination and Inheritance of Martial Arts Culture in the New Media Era

The dissemination of martial arts culture is essential for its preservation and wider appreciation. Because in the 5000 years history of China, martial arts are an indispensable part of Chinese culture with the advent of the new media era, new avenues for martial arts dissemination have emerged. This research delves into the impact of we-media on martial arts through methods such as literature review and interviews, comparing its influence on martial arts. The study of the influence of self-media on martial arts is of significant research importance, as martial arts need to adapt to the rapidly changing modern era, optimize its methods of dissemination, promote its popularity, and facilitate its international development. As the most commonly used new media by modern mainstream people, short video transmits multi-sensory information in the form of picture, text, sound and image, which has become the most acceptable medium. This way makes martial arts more widely spread.

The Impact of Logistics Service Quality of Cross Border E-Commerce Business on Customer Satisfaction

Nowadays, people have a high requirement for daily necessities. Many consumers buy daily necessities overseas. In recent years, cross-border e-commerce is becoming one of the mainstream people's shopping modes. With the increasing popularity of network applications, the e-commerce is changing the business models of traditional shopping. Cross-border logistics accounts for an increasing proportion of logistics business. Compared with traditional domestic logistics business, cross-border e-commerce logistics may have many problems such as payment and customs clearance, resulting in its service quality significantly affecting customer satisfaction. This paper analyzes the current problems of cross-border e-commerce logistics services. Meanwhile, it summarizes the research status of the relationship between cross-border logistics service quality and customer satisfaction. Last but not the least, potential solutions of improvement for cross-border e-commerce logistics service quality were also proposed.

Narrating the Culture of Resistance in Harijan Community in an Urban Area of Bangladesh

The culture of resistance refers to an act by a particular unprivileged community against the dominant practice of cultural norms in the larger society. It perpetuates the clash between dominant and alternative cultural meanings developed by mainstream society and marginalized subgroups. We aimed to narrate the culture of resistance in the Harijan community in urban Bangladesh. We adopted Observation, In-depth Interview (IDI), Key Informant Interview (KII), and General Discussion as data collection tools to obtain data from the Harijan community to narrate it. The findings revealed that Harijan people struggled to survive with ‘intra’ and ‘inter’ community competition. Moreover, they resist in everyday activities through some cultural norms and practices such as keeping silent, avoiding any untoward situation, acting differently with mainstream people, following conventional customs as well as mainstream people’s law, and making common temples for their religious occasion’s observance. Therefore, they survive in their everyday lives by adopting this simple resistance mechanism.

MAGIC-I as an Assistance for the Visually Impaired People

Background: According to the WHO report, around 4.07% of the world's population is visually impaired. About 90% of the visually impaired users live in the lower economic strata. In the fast moving technology, most of the invention misses the need of these people. Mainly the technologies were designed for mainstream people; visually impaired people always find an inability to access it. This inability arises primarily for reasons such as cost, for example, Perkins Brailler costs 80-248 dollars for the simple purpose of Braille input. Another major reason is the hassle of carrying the big equipment. Objective: Keeping all this in mind and making technology as their best friends, MAGIC-1 has been designed. The goal is to provide a solution in terms of an application, which helps the visually impaired user in their daily life activities. Method: The proposed solution assists visually impaired users through smart phone technology. If visually impaired users ever wished to have a touched guide into a smart phone, MAGIC-1 has the solution that consolidates all the important features in their daily activities. Results: The performance of the solution as a whole and its individual features in terms of usability, utility and other metrics, etc. has been tested with sample visually impaired users. Moreover, their performances in term of Errors per Word and Words per Minute have been observed. Conclusion: MAGIC-I, the proposed solution works as an assistant of visually impaired users to overcome their daily struggles and stay more connected to the world. A visually impaired user can communicate via their mobile devices with features like eyes free texting using braille, voice calling etc. They can easily take help in an emergency situation with the options of SOS emergency calling and video assistance.

Mark Bingham

In this article, the author recounts some of the events that occurred on September 11, 2001, when four doomed airlines crashed after being hijacked by 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists, resulting in the deaths of 2,977 people in New York, New York, at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and on an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It is at this latter location, where United Flight 93 crashed killing everyone onboard, including 31-year-old Mark Bingham, an openly gay businessman and member of a small group of people who, it is believed, wrested control from the hijackers and brought the plane down. In the years post-September 11, Bingham has become known as a modern-day hero by the various queer communities, while also garnering a high level of notoriety among many mainstream people as well. The author maintains, however, that Bingham’s hero status simultaneously contributes to the dismissal and erasure of countless other queer people, primarily Black, Brown, and transgender, who have also performed heroic acts throughout modern U.S. history. Without diminishing the actions Bingham and the others took on board United Flight 93, the author questions why this particular gay man is remembered, while countless other queer/trans people of color remain largely unknown.

The Process of Social Exclusion of Tea Garden Workers: A Study on Sylhet City Corporation, Bangladesh

Previous literature suggests that tea garden workers of Bangladesh are excluded from social, political and economic aspects. Therefore, this research work aimed to exploring the process of social exclusion of tea garden worker. All the tea gardens within Sylhet City Corporation have been selected as the study area and empirical data has been collected from selected respondents by Survey and In-depth interview methods. The field data show that tea garden workers are excluded in main three ways. They are deprived from social and political rights and have a very small control on their material world. Such deprivations made them incapable and create a cycle of poverty which leads them to social exclusion. Moreover, tea garden owners and managers play a peculiar role to exploit them from their basic socio-political and economic rights. In such a way, tea garden workers become excluded from the main stream people and living inhuman life.

An Ethnographic Exploration of the Lyngam Ethnic Community in Bangladesh

The Lyngam community is living over a hundred years as a distinct ethnic group maintaining racial and cultural identity at Kalmakanda Upazila of Netrokona district in Bangladesh. Generally, mainstream people are not aware of their culture. Yet the scholars and researchers did not study on their origin, history, and culture. A few anthropologists, sociologists and linguists examined the Lyngams culture and trend of cultural dynamics as part of Khasi and Garo (dominant tribes). This paper attempts to understand and describe how the way of life and culture of Lyngam is constructed to the context of self-image and other communities with Christianization. To explore the Lyngams' cultural traits, attributes, and existing trend, an ethnographic approach round a year and an in-depth interview method are employed here. These methods along with secondary information reveal that the Lyngams' way of life and cultural dynamics are the amalgamation of Khasi and Garo culture. The intermingled product of Khasi and Garo culture is treated as a separate ethnic group that could be considered as the Lyngam community.

Social Exclusion ofBihari Muslimin Bangladesh

This paper aims to describe the social exclusion of Bihari Muslims of Moulavibazar district of Bangladesh who migrated from India. An attempt has been made to highlight their multidimensional aspects of vulnerability and day- to- day struggle for survival. Bihari Muslim people are among the migrants who came to Bangladesh in the period of partition in 1947. From that time they have been facing many difficulties, experiencing exclusion in the all spheres of their life and struggling hard for their survival. They are concentrated mostly in tea garden areas and struggling hard for their survival due to their impoverished economic condition and hostile social environment. They had to neglect every sphere of their life after coming to a new country where everyone dislikes them because they came from a Hindu originated country. Mainstream people always criticise them saying ‘Jala Muslim’. They rebuke, neglect, exclude and deprive them from every step of the privileged space. Mainstream people think Bihari people as a mean creature of God. The social status of Bihari people is very low in context to the mainstream. They do not give food to Bihari people in their dishes. Even the local Hindus do not allow them to touch their water pitch. They treat Bihari people as untouchables. At earlier Bihari people were not allowed to enter into the Mosque for prayer. Moreover when tube well and sanitary ring were provided from the tea garden the mainstreams were first selected. Bihari Muslim people are also excluded in the employment, education and health care delivery system.

Migration, Human Dislocation and the Good News

At the dawn of the nineteenth century the British were keen on introducing a civilizational progress into what was perceived to be superstitious and regressing British India. Several strategies to achieve this objective were considered, of which one was to start by influencing the Indian communities that showed greatest promise and had a friendly disposition towards the British, and through their instrumentality reach the other Indian communities. The Parsees figured prominently among the handful communities the British were interested in for this purpose. Amongst nineteenth-century Christian missionaries in western India, John Wilson of Bombay shared this interest and vision. It encouraged him to adopt Enlightenment-inspired methods of determining truth and falsehood in the Parsee socio-religious system with the hope of inducing moral and religious change amongst the Parsees. When this strategy met with strong resistance he diverted his efforts to educating the Parsees. Wilson’s mission did not produce the results he hoped for. Instead his rigorous engagement with their beliefs and customs served a warning to the Parsees of the need to introduce reform within their community in order to survive in a milieu of intense social change.India’s tropical climate, its fertile and diverse landscape, the reputation of its elite religious and philosophical culture and the welcoming demeanor of its people have drawn conquering princes, tradesmen, travelers, missionaries and even economic and political refugees to her for several millennia. Today’s eclectic India with its multi-racial and culturally diverse population is the result of migration that happened since ancient times, especially from the regions to her north and west. Amongst the ethnic groups that migrated to become part of India were the Persians. Contact between Persia and India has existed for more than three thousand years. Those Persians who made India their home in ancient times lost their exclusive identity over time and amalgamated with the mainstream people groups of India. A later migration under desperate circumstances at the beginning of the Islamic era and as a result of Islamic persecution brought Persians once again to the shores of India. These relatively recent refugees retained their identity and came to be known as Parsees. This paper is about them and about the efforts of one of British India’s leading Christian missionaries of the nineteenth century – John Wilson – to Christianize them. Not many Parsees converted to the Christian faith as a result of Wilson’s efforts, but the entire episode has much to offer by way of lessons for Christian mission amongst migrants and dislocated people.

Life Style and Social Exclusion of Snake Charmers in Bangladesh

This article is constructed on the basis of a study conducted in Sunamgonj District in Bangladesh. With the objective of an in-depth exploration on the marginalisation process of snake charmer community, the study used qualitative design. Purposive sampling technique has been used to select both research participants and study area. The study selected one of the villages of snake charmer and all male and female at the age of 18 years and above living in the selected village were considered as the population of the study. Twenty-five villagers were selected as sample and were interviewed with a standardised interview protocol consisting open-ended questions for covering all aspects of the research objectives. In addition with intensive interviewing, two focus group discussions were conducted with the participants. The study reveals that the socio-economic conditions of snake charmers are not so good comparing with the mainstream people of Bangladesh. On the other hand, this community does not have good relation with the people of mainstream society. They are frequently neglected and humiliated by the majority of population mainly because of their status as marginalised community Bose (2003). This people do not get job as majority people are reluctant to allow them to be engaged in mainstream occupations. Government offices ignore them due to their status as snake charmers. They are living within majority of people with same religious faith as Muslim but they are not accepted warmly by the majority Muslims. Name calling, labelling them as inferior group, use of some terms to humiliate and degrade them, etc, have become the part of their everyday life. They are not properly counted in voter list. Many of them cannot cast their votes, and do not have national identity card. They are facing identity crisis. This people want to be recognised as a distinct group like indigenous people.

Electronic book format EPUB and Japanese typography : Mainstream people in Japan are unlikely to win international standardization battles

EPUB3は，HTMLとCSSなどのWeb技術に基づいた電子書籍フォーマットである。EPUB3は国際化されており，その1つとして日本語組版を扱うことができる。縦書き等の機能は，まずW3CにおいてCSS Writing ModesとCSS Textを作成し，次にIDPFにおいてこれらをもとにEPUB3を作成することによって導入された。この標準化経験に基づいて，国際的標準化において日本が陥りやすい落とし穴を指摘し，成功するアプローチを示唆する。

Zoning Laws: Facebook and Google+

Zoning Laws: Facebook and Google+

Why You Tube matters. Why it is so important, why we should all be using it, and why blocking it blocks our kids' education

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to highlight current changes in the way people communicate, and the role of You Tube in leading these changesDesign/methodology/approachThe approach takes the form of the author's observations and reflections.FindingsWith close to 100 million examples online, and growing exponentially, You Tube, and short video in general, are dramatically affecting the way in which today's Americans – especially young people – communicate and learn. In only five years, short video has moved from a medium for isolated, perhaps geeky young people to express themselves, to a two‐way medium used by mainstream people all over the world – including many experts and intellectuals – to share information and ideas. Today so much information is shared through video that, for perhaps 80 percent of Americans, reading and writing are rarely used skills, and becoming even more so.Practical implicationsWhile it is admitted that there remains a (relatively small) group for whom reading and writing will continue to be important, the question is “Should we continue to struggle to teach reading and writing to the great percentage of students, or should we focus on teaching clear communication of ideas through media that are easier to use?”Originality/valueThe paper provides a new perspective on the meaning of communication and the role of textual literacy in life and education in the near future.

Consensus of the 'Malasars' traditional aboriginal knowledge of medicinal plants in the Velliangiri holy hills, India

There are many vanishing cultures that possess a wealth of knowledge on the medicinal utility of plants. The Malasars of Dravidian Tamils are an indigenous society occupying the forests of the Western Ghats, South India. They are known to be exceptional healers and keepers of traditional aboriginal knowledge (TAK) of the flora in the Velliangiri holy hills. In fact, their expertise is well known throughout India as evidenced by the thousands of pilgrims that go to the Velliangiri holy hills for healing every year. Our research is the first detailed study of medicinal plants in India that considers variation in TAK among informants using a quantitative consensus analysis. A total of 95 species belonging to 50 families were identified for medicinal and general health purposes. For each species the botanical name, family, local name, parts used, summary of mode of preparation, administration and curing are provided. The consensus analysis revealed a high level of agreement among the informants usage of a particular plant at a local scale. The average consensus index value of an informant was FIC > 0.71, and over 0.80 for some ailments such as respiratory and jaundice. Some of the more common problems faced by the Malasars were gastrointestinal disorders, respiratory illness, dermatological problems and simple illness such as fever, cough, cold, wounds and bites from poisonous animals. We also discovered several new ethnotaxa that have considerable medicinal utility. This study supports claims that the Malasars possess a rich TAK of medicinal plants and that many aboriginals and mainstream people (pilgrims) utilize medicinal plants of the Velliangiri holy hills. Unfortunately, the younger generation of Malasars are not embracing TAK as they tend to migrate towards lucrative jobs in more developed urban areas. Our research sheds some light on a traditional culture that believes that a healthy lifestyle is founded on a healthy environment and we suggest that TAK such as that of the Malasars may serve toward a global lifestyle of health and environmental sustainability.

Keeping Not Writing: An Interview

The Japanese guru of metafiction, Yasutaka Tsutsui is a novelist, playwright, literary critic, actor, and musician. Born in Osaka in 1934, he was educated at Doshisha University in Kyoto, where he majored in aesthetics and art. In 1960, he collaborated with his three brothers to start the science-fiction fanzine, NULL. Tsutsui published his first short story, "O-Tasuke," in the detective-fiction magazine Hoseki. In 1962, he returned to publishing science fiction. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Tsutsui was nominated several times for the Naoki Prize. Around this time, his work in slapstick, fabulism, and metafiction began to attract a wide readership. In the 1980s, a twenty-four-volume set of his complete works was published. He has since become active in cyber media, and in the summer of 1996 helped to set up jalinet, the first literary server in Japan. A member of Japan's Science Fiction Writers Association and pen Club, he has received such literary prizes as the 1981 Izumi Kyoka award, the 1987 Tanizaki Jun'ichiro award, the 1989 Kawabata Yasunari Prize for Literature, the 1992 Japan sf Grand Prize, and the 1999 Yomiuri Prize for Literature. In 1997, he was awarded the rank of Chevalier des Arts and des Lettres by the French government. LM What is it about slapstick that appeals to your sensibility? Doesn't introducing slapstick risk making the work seem less serious? YT According to what I recall, in the early seventies, sci-fi was not re-garded as a literary form and I felt a strong feeling of resistance towards this kind of prejudice. During that period, I was often asked by mainstream literary magazine editors to contribute more "serious" works and give up writing sci-fi. I had just published a novel titled Samba of Escape and Pursuit (1971), which was seminal in Japanese metafiction and was considered as a kind of deviant by both the sci-fi people and mainstream people. But this slapstick tendency comes from what I had studied in university, which was surrealism. That was my deepest commitment to literature. So it was not only [End Page 58] Harpo but also surrealism that led me to the intermingling of entertainment and sci-fi. To put it in another way: even surrealism has a slapstick aspect. LM Most of your sci-fi works are not set in the future or outer space and don't have rocket ships in them. As a sci-fi writer, why haven't you used these conventional trappings? Because they would not be useful to your own interest in psychology? YT I think this attitude you have just described is true of myself but not necessarily of other sci-fi writers. I resist the sci-fi label, and the other writers consider me a deviant. By the way, in Samba of Escape and Pursuit, there is one scene in which the hero goes through a manhole into a sewer, which leads to another dimension of the spatial-temporal continuum. This might be a concrete example of what you have just pointed out. Come to think of it, I wrote a short story titled "A Pack of Cats," in which the manhole was an important factor and was very surrealistic. Anyway, my inspiration comes from surrealism and not sci-fi. SG A lot of your sensibility was influenced by surrealism, and yet you have used the structure or form of sci-fi in your works. Why have you not written more "traditional" surrealism? What was your initial impulse regarding sci-fi? Was it just a form that would allow you to create surrealistic works? YT To me, sci-fi is a way to deconstruct reality, just as surrealism was. Of course, I could have employed other approaches. For example, I had wanted to become a painter, if only I had the talent. Writing, or écriture, was the only way left for me to deconstruct reality. Now, when I...

Searching for the Real: ‘Family Business,’ Pornography, and Reality Television

Searching for the Real: ‘Family Business,’ Pornography, and Reality Television